Housebreaking horrorQ: I recently rescued a small puppy from a dumpster behind a shopping center. being so small i knew he wouldn't be housebroken in anyway. but since i brought him home my older dog who has been house broken for almost 6 months now has started to use the bathroom in the house which she never did before i got the puppy. do you have any suggestions how i could get ther to stop this? in addition do you have any housebreaking tips i could use for the puppy? thanks in advance kassandra canfield A: Use crate or pen to housebreak puppy. older dog may be stressed by new puppy or feel threatened so you could try a low dose of a mild sedative like acepromazine until he is used to the pup
Pimple/massQ: My fiance and i have a 7 1/2 month old english springer spaniel. i have a habit of massaging our puppy. one day i felt what seemed to be a little pimple on his left upper chest. within one to two weeks, this little pimple grew the size of a pea or little larger, looked pinkish or reddish in color. it was also hard, nonmoveable. it felt like it was on his skin, but hard to say. we took him to the vet, which the same day, he had emergency surgery, which we are waiting for the results of the biopsy at this time. the vet informed us that if we let it go, the mass could get bigger and start to bleed, which would be hard to stop the bleeding. i am afraid it may be cancerous, even thou he seems to be doing fine....his incision is about 3 or 4 inches long. it is a pretty big size with several sutures. the vet also informed us that if it is cancer, it can spread thru his body. can this be a hemangioma? are springers accessible to tumors? cancer? can you give me a little more information? i've been searching thru all kinds of animal books we have since having 3 different types of dogs..and none on english spring spaniels. in the meantime, we're still waiting for the results which will hopefully be this week. thank you so much. linda A: I would wait until you get biopsy back any day before i can comment or make recommendations. i can only tell you that in my experience most of these growths in young dogs are benign histiocytomas, which are very common, and actually sometimes can go down on their own. if that is what it ends up being, then you were alarmed needlessly
Leg weaknessQ: My 12 yr old mixed breed has been having weakness in his back legs. he has been on glyco.flex i for about 2 yrs. as he gets older, he is having more difficulty getting up & down stairs. should we stay with the glyco i or is it time to go to glyco.flex 2 or 3 ? also he is on zubrin. thanks ! A: I would indeed graduate to likely glycoflex iii from your description. also add flax seed oil to food at dose of 1 tea per 20 pounds of body weight daily and give antioxidant vitamins like vitamin e at dose of 400iu daily and vitamin c in form of ester c at dose of 1000 mg twice daily
Shop for: vitamin, zubrin CoughingQ: My 105# rottie had all shots/ kennel cough vacs. on july 10th. july 20th in the early am he started a dry, deep cough as if something was cought in his throat. he doesn't cough much. could you tell me if this sounds like kennel cough. is kennel cough airborn. he has been staying in a crate that was used by a puppy approx. 6 weeks ago A: Kennel cough is stress induced disease caused by various viruses and bacteria some of which are normal inhabitants of dogs airways but overgrow under periods of stress. can be worsened or spread by airborne issues. also a good case example as why i am not big fan of kennel cough vaccine as i dont feel it has been shown to be effective in my opinion and in fact i think i see more kennel cough in vaccinated dogs in my experience and opinion
Lucky, my dogQ: Who is avma? i am in the 310 area code. thank you, p.t. A: The acronym stands for the american veterinary medical association.
LobelleQ: I was wondering if you had ever heard of a drug called lobelle? a freind of mind told me that someone they new had a dog that tested positive for heartworms and she gave her dog lobelle , which is an herbal drug i believe and it got rid of the heart worms and now she gives this to her dog as a preventitive. have you ever heard of this. it is sold at health stores i think. A: I am not familiar with this preparation.
PancreatitisQ: Dear dr., my 8 yr old vizsla suffered an attack of "pancreatitis" on mem day weekend. she was hospitalized and fasted, given iv, antibiotics and carafate. we gradually weaned her from hamburger/rice to dry dog food and she started to suffer again. her lab chemistry reports were all normal including lipase. amylase was 1538 and our vet suggested hamburger/rice and gradually wean to hills id this time. we are doing that but she seems so "depressed". could she be this way due to pain? how long does it take for the pancreas to heal so there is no more pain? should she be taking any other med or supplement to help the pancreas heal? A: Tough to say as each case of pancreatitis is different. despite sometimes even diet therapy some dogs can have relapses. usually most recover in a matter of days to a week. however i would make sure diagnosis is correct by having abdominal ultrasound done as many vets over diagnose this condition based on blood tests. also consider prozyme supplementation from 1800petmeds which can help long term as well as making home made diet as described in book dr. pitcairns guide to natural health for dogs and cats by richard pitcairn, dvm
Shop for: prozyme, 1800petmeds
